Michigan, South Australian Students and Faculty Now Using Summon™ Web-scale Discovery Service to Speed Research
In less than two months implementation time, the first two commercial adopters of the Summon™ service have launched the web-scale discovery tool at their universities. Michigan’s Grand Valley State University (GVSU) and the University of South Australia (UniSA) have their Summon sites up and running for the new semester, enabling students and faculty to search the breadth of the libraries’ collections – physical and digital, at the article level – from a single search box. The Summon™ service is from Serials Solutions, a business unit of ProQuest.
The Summon™ search box sits front and center on the GVSU libraries’ home page, www.gvsu.edu/library. “Summon is a game-changer in how we provide access to our content,” said Ron Berry, the libraries’ director of technology and information resources. “Students and faculty could easily get lost in the various choices of platforms to search for their information, but Summon gets right to the heart of the content and provides easy linking to material in its native database or catalog.”
At UniSA, the Summon™ search box replaces the “Find It” box on the library homepage. The library also plans to have the Summon™ search box replace Google Scholar in staff and student portals. During this early phase, other search points in the Library toolbar will remain temporarily.
“The most compelling reason for going with the Summon service - and going early - was that it so clearly provided a simple way to meet the library’s objective of improving information discovery by providing an obvious and easy-to-use starting point for research,” said Helen Livingston, UniSA Library Director.
“It’s a forward-thinking system and we’re already discussing the best way to take advantage of the availability of the open API to direct users to library content effectively through our Moodle learning course management system and the staff and student portals,” said UniSA Library IT Manager Jenny Quilliam.
The Summon™ service is built with entirely new technology and based on extensive end-user studies. Its simple, library-branded search box eliminates the confusion users have in finding a starting point for their research. Its aim is to attract researchers back to the library and expose more of the library’s content to them, earning more value from investment in collections.
The service has been developed in close cooperation with the library community and the content providers who serve it. Among those contributing to its expansive content are ProQuest, Gale, Lexis-Nexis Academic, Publishing Technology – provider of the scholarly research platform IngentaConnect™ – and Thomson Reuters ISI Web of Science®. In total, the Summon™ service includes content from more than 6,000 publishers and has indexed nearly half a billion records.
About Serials Solutions
Founded by a librarian for librarians in 2000, Serials Solutions is the global leader in E-Resource Access and Management Services (ERAMS) that serves more than 2,000 libraries of all sizes and types. Serials Solutions® KnowledgeWorks, the authoritative e-resource knowledgebase, is the foundation for Serials Solutions® 360, the only complete and integrated e-resource access and management solution. Serials Solutions recently introduced the Summon™ web-scale discovery service, a revolutionary tool that provides instant access to the full breadth of the library’s collection through a single search.
Serials Solutions also is the exclusive source for Ulrichsweb.com™ and Ulrich’s Serials Analysis System™ worldwide, and represents the AquaBrowser® Discovery Layer in the academic market in North America and Australia. The WebFeat® federated search service recently acquired by ProQuest soon will be incorporated into the Serials Solutions family of access and discovery services.
Serials Solutions provides fast implementation, easy customization, and outstanding value to libraries throughout the world.
Serials Solutions is a division of ProQuest LLC.
About ProQuest LLC
ProQuest creates specialized information resources and technologies that propel successful research and lifelong learning. A global leader in serving libraries of all types, ProQuest offers the culmination of experience from many respected brands, including CSA™, UMI®, Chadwyck-Healey™, SIRS®, and eLibrary®. With Serials Solutions®, Ulrich’s™, RefWorks®, COS™, and Dialog® brands now in the ProQuest family, the company continues to build on its legacy of responsive people in partnership with librarians.
ProQuest consistently seeks new ways to support researchers and quality research. More than a content provider or aggregator, ProQuest is an information partner, creating indispensable research solutions that connect people and information. Through innovative, user-centered technology, ProQuest offers a depth and breadth of global content that includes historical newspapers, dissertations, and uniquely relevant resources for researchers of any age and sophistication—including content not likely to be digitized by others. Inspired by its customers and end users, ProQuest is working toward a future that blends information accessibility with community to further enhance learning and encourage lifelong enrichment. For more information, visit www.proquest.com or the ProQuest parent company website, www.cambridgeinformationgroup.com.